Traffic congestion is one of the most concerning issues in the transportation system. Recurrent congestion and non-recurrent congestion are explored in this research. This research will investigate one of the most concerning issues with the transportation system, congestion, using an overall delay analysis study. A developed fused database program was used to access and analyze the complete database data. Two online databases were used for obtaining traffic, incident and weather data. Eleven different scenarios such as peak-hours, rain scenario, incidents scenario, and work zone scenario were developed for the analysis. An overall delay study was performed on all scenarios to find the impact recurring and non-recurring congestion on the highway. The results of this research were interesting for future adjustment and improvements on the two segments of highways selected. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ten spyte daarvan dat die vyf tydskrifte met die hoogste sirkulasiesyfer in Suid-Afrika almal kliëntepublikasies (Engels customer publications) is, skiet advertensie-agentskappe klaarblyklik steeds dié publikasies ten gunste van verbruikerspublikasies af omdat hulle dit waarskynlik nie as geloofwaardig beskou nie. Waar talle verbruikerstydskrifte egter min of geen groei in ’n ál meer mededingende en gefragmenteerde mark toon, ervaar die top-kliëntepublikasies steeds merkwaardige groei. In die verlede is die meeste kliëntepublikasies deur die betrokke maatskappy se bemarkingsbegroting gefinansier. Vandag egter, word finansiering al meer deur adverteerders verskaf. Die vraag wat dog dikwels deur skeptiese advertensie-agentskappe gevra word, is of derdeparty-adverteerders dieselfde waarde geniet as wat die maatskappy se handelsmerk in dié publikasies doen. Hoewel Suid-Afrikaanse kliëntetydskrifte net soos hul eweknieë in die VK en VSA die grootste sirkulasiesyfers het, geniet hulle egter nie dieselfde advertensie-ondersteuning as in dié lande nie. Dit is ’n interessante verskynsel en hierdie studie wil onder meer poog om vas te stel waarom dit so is. Kontrakuitgewers stem in die algemeen saam dat ’n standaard stel riglyne waarop advertensie-agentskappe hul besluitneming kan grond, beslis sal help om ’n gelukkiger stand van sake te bewerkstellig. Hierdie studie poog om binne die teoretiese raamwerk van die politieke ekonomie van die media ’n stel riglyne saam te stel waarop advertensie-agentskappe hul besluitneming oor advertensieplasing kan grond. Die metodologie wat gebruik is, behels veldnavorsing met indiepte-onderhoude as fundamentele navorsingstegniek en gevallestudies met inhoudsanalise as aanvullende tegniek. Om die riglyne te kon saamstel, is advertensie-agentskappe en die kontrakuitgewer New Media Publishing betrek en is vier kliëntetydskrifte – Edgars Club Magazine, Horizons, Skottel en Woolworths TASTE – ontleed. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Despite the fact that the five magazines with the largest circulation figures in South Africa are all customer publications, advertising agencies still seem to shun these publications in favour of consumer magazines because they say they do not deem them credible. Where several consumer magazines showed very little or no growth in an ever increasing and fragmented market, top customer publications continue to experience remarkable growth. In the past, most customer publications were financed by a company’s marketing budget. Today, however, they are often financed by advertisers. The question that sceptical advertising agencies ask is whether third party advertisers benefit from the same value as the company’s own brand. Although South African customer magazines have the same large circulation figures as their counterparts in America and the United Kingdom, they seem not to enjoy the same advertising support as these countries. This is an interesting phenomenon and this study aims to determine why that is the case. In general, contract publishers seem to agree that a standard set of guidelines on which advertising agencies could base their decision-making, would assist in ensuring a happier state of affairs. Within the theoretical framework of the political economy of the media, this study aims to compile a set of guidelines on which advertising agencies could base their decision-making regarding advertisement placements. The methodology includes field research with in-depth interviews as fundamental research technique and case studies with content analysis as supplementary technique. To compile these guidelines, advertising agencies and the contract publisher New Media Publishing are concerned and four customer magazines – Edgars Club Magazine, Horizons, Skottel and Woolworths TASTE – analysed.

Tuition and fees are a major source of income for colleges and universities and a major portion of the cost of a student's education. The university administration's task of making sound and effective tuition and fee policy decisions is becoming both more critical and more complex. This is a result of the increased reliance on student-generated tuition-and-fee income, the declining college-age student population, reductions in state and Federal funds, and escalating costs of operation. The comprehensive computerized decision support system (DSS) developed in this research enhances the administration's planning, decision-making, and policy-setting processes. It integrates data and reports with modeling and analysis in order to provide a systematic means for analyzing tuition and fee problems, at a detailed and sophisticated level, without the user having to be an expert in management science techniques or computers. The DSS with its imbedded multi-year goal programming (GP) model allocates the university's revenue requirements to charges for individual student categories based on a set of user-defined objectives, constraints, and priorities. The system translates the mathematical programming model into a valuable decision-making aid by making it directly and readily accessible to the administration. The arduous tasks of model formulation and solution, the calculation of the model's parameter values, and the generation of a series of reports to document the results are performed by the system; whereas, the user is responsible for defining the problem framework, selecting the goals, setting the targets, establishing the priority structure, and assessing the solution. The DSS architecture is defined in terms of three highly integrated subsystems - dialog, data, and models - that provide the following functions: user/system interface, program integration, process control, data storage and handling, mathematical, statistical, and financial computations, as well as display, memory aid, and report generation. The software was developed using four programming languages/systems: EXEC 2, FORTRAN, IFPS, and LINDO. While the system was developed, tested, and implemented at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the concepts developed in this research are general enough to be applied to any public institution of higher education. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this research was to determine if presentation format, given a particular task to be performed, would affect the decision-making process of financial decision makers. The problem motivating this study is the potential for managers to make inefficient decisions when they use reports which are presented inappropriately for a given task.

Financial risk tolerance, an investor’s appetite for financial risk, is an extremely important aspect that needs to be considered when constructing investment portfolios. Evidence as to how risk tolerance should be measured is mixed, with each method having its own strengths and weaknesses. It can be determined both objectively and subjectively, depending on the method used, and can be influenced by a variety of demographic characteristics. Debate as to how certain demographic factors influence risk tolerance is widespread, providing support for further study in this field, particularly from a South African perspective. The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent demographic factors influenced an individual’s willingness to take on levels of financial risk. The study used an existing, but adapted, subjective questionnaire to determine the risk tolerance levels of a sample of respondents. Respondents were categorised at an aggregate level as either being below or above average risk tolerant. A Binary Logistic model was used to analyse the effect of the independent demographic variables on risk tolerance and it was found that age and gender were significantly related to risk tolerance, whilst there was mixed evidence as to the relationship between risk tolerance and race as well as income. The findings from the study provide new evidence from a wider South African sample and could be used by financial advisors to improve their understanding of risk tolerance and its demographic determinants, as well as companies wishing to align their employees’ risk profiles with the overall company risk profile, as examples. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

Leasing provides a significant source of finance across UK firms. Historically, its use has been attributed to favourable tax treatment and 'off-balance sheet' accounting, both of which have been eroded over time. The present day determinants of leasing have received limited investigation, and prior research has focused on the use of finance leases in isolation from overall corporate financing decisions. This seems inappropriate given the predominant and prolific use of operating leases (Beattie, Edwards and Goodacre, 1998), and evidence to suggest that lease and debt finance appear to be at least partial substitutes (Beattie, Goodacre and Thomson, 2000). Further, proposals issued by the Accounting Standards Board in late 1999 look set to essentially remove the current 'off-balance sheet' accounting treatment of operating leases. If accounting treatment is in any way responsible for the current use of operating leases, these proposals are likely to have a significant impact on the future role of leasing. In response, the present study. investigated both the current role of leasing in the wider context of corporate financing decisions, and its future role in light of the new proposals for lease accounting. Two separate surveys of UK quoted industrial companies were undertaken to investigate corporate financing and leasing decisions and views and opinions on lease accounting reform. Findings are based on a response of 23% (198 completed questionnaires) and 19% (91 completed questionnaires) respectively. OLS regression analysis was also employed for a sample of 159 UK quoted industrial companies, to establish the existence of an 'offbalance sheet' advantage to operating leases from a market perspective. Findings suggest that UK firms appear more likely to follow Myers' (1984) suggestion of a modified pecking order of capital structure when determining their debt, including leasing, levels. Investment nd dividend payout dictate the need for external finance, and debt including leasing is internally rather than externally constrained. On average, internal reserves followed by straight debt appear preferable to leasing. However, the benefits and costs associated with all sources of finance are likely to be considered when additional finance is required. Although tax and 'off-balance sheet' advantages to leasing remain, they do not appear to dominate the leasing decision in the current climate. Avoiding large capital outlay and cash flow considerations appear of paramount importance in the decision to lease all asset types. Findings suggest that the preference for leasing over other forms of debt is not anticipated to change in response to the new proposals for lease accounting. However, the new approach may not be without consequence. Where possible, financial statement preparers are likely to take reactionary steps to minimise balance sheet obligations. At the very least, this could involve exercising any opportunity to manipulate the new accounting treatment. It may extend to reduced investment and a decline in levels of debt financing, including leasing. Although operating lease obligations appear to be currently taken into account in the UK market's assessment of equity risk, the accuracy with which they are taken into account remains unclear. Therefore, the revaluation of securities in the wake of the new proposals becoming mandatory is not beyond the realms of possibility. The present study provides a holistic analysis of corporate financing and leasing decisions in UK firms. It provides a valuable contribution to the capital structure debate. It would seem inappropriate for future capital structure research to focus on proving alternative static trade-off and pecking order theories. Future research would benefit from a reconciliation of the two. The present study highlights the difficulties in analysing corporate financing and leasing decisions, by establishing that they are complex, multidimensional and essentially situation-specific. The present study also has important implications for policy makers. In addition to the potential economic consequences, findings appear to suggest that certain features of the new proposals fall short of developing into a high quality lease accounting standard. Further consideration by policy makers from alternative perspectives appears necessary.

Prof. C.J. Jooste

The media and the Government have voiced their feelings against micro-lenders, which they refer to as “abomashonisa”. The cry has been that they enslave the poor making their lives unbearable. The fact of the matter is that it is not only the poor who find themselves slaves to the micro-lenders. The educated with better paying jobs than the poor, including teachers are also micro-lending clients. This prompted the researcher to investigate the financial management competencies of teachers. Although teachers are better paid than the poor, the manner in which they conduct their financial affairs will determine whether they live like the poor or not. Even for the poor, poor financial management skills is one of the important factors that cause them to be enslaved by micro-lenders. To meet the dissertation’s aims a literature study focusing on the origin and the development of micro-lending in South Africa and the financial management acumen of teachers in South Africa, was conducted. An empirical study was then undertaken to investigate the financial management competencies of teachers in Port Elizabeth. Based on the information obtained from the literature study and the results from the empirical survey, various recommendations and conclusions were made.

This study examines how the investment opportunity set of the firm affects financing choices the firm makes. In a two-period, one decision, no-tax model, we show that firms characterized by a high level of investment opportunities in future periods issue equity and convertible securities while firms with fewer investment opportunities in future periods issue straight debt. Our empirical design improves upon previous studies in two important ways. First, we treat convertible debt separately from straight debt. Second, in addition to examining the correlation between investment opportunity and debt-asset ratios, we examine the incremental financing decision using discrete choice analysis. We find that the level of investment opportunities of firms making public issues of equity and convertible debt are higher than those issuing straight debt. Also, there is a negative correlation between investment opportunities and debt-asset ratios. We interpret these results to mean that investment opportunities are an important determinant of the firm’s financing policy. The direction of this relationship is the same as that predicted by the tax models of DeAngelo and Masulis (1980) and Dotan and Ravid (1985), and agency models of Myers (1977), Jensen (1986) and Stulz (1990). / Ph. D.

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Science degree in Building to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / Background – The South African (SA) real estate sector lacks transparency and there is limited research and robust data on the performance drivers of underlying commercial real estate assets in investment portfolios as opposed to the residential and listed property sectors in the SA context. SA real estate competes internationally and the rapid growth in emerging countries is creating new real estate players and growing competition for real estate investment opportunities (PwC, 2015). It is important for investors in the industry to understand the factors that affect the sector’s performance to be able to plan, review investment strategies, allocate resources efficiently, understand past trends and manage future risks. Purpose - The purpose of the study is to understand the performance of the SA direct commercial real estate sector and identify the key factors that drive the sector’s total returns in the country. Literature review is conducted to identify factors that drive direct commercial real returns in other countries and the identified drivers are tested for relevancy in the SA market. The study applies SA annual commercial real estate returns published by the International Property Databank (IPD) over the past 20 years, from 1995 to 2014, as dependent variables. Findings - Using Pearson’s correlation analysis, the study tests for correlations between CRE returns and independent variables; macroeconomic indicators (exogenous factors) and property performance variables (endogenous factors). The study finds gross rental escalation and real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates to be highly positively correlated with direct real estate returns. The results provide evidence that gross rental escalation and real GDP have high explanatory values of commercial real estate returns. The study concludes that rental income growth and economic growth are the key drivers of direct commercial real estate total returns. Value - The findings provide evidence of the correlations that exist between exogenous, endogenous variables and CRE returns and assist in understanding the behaviour of the direct commercial real estate sector. This study sets a basis for real estate investments analysis and the results can be applied in asset allocation strategies by guiding investors on the direction CRE returns could take based on performance of the widely published macroeconomic and property performance variables under study. Limitations - The limitation to this study is that the dependent variables, SA annual commercial real estate returns, has time series data of 20 variables in its existence and this has restricted the quantitative methodology choice, hence the use of correlation analysis to quantitatively analyse the relationships that exist between CRE returns and the exogenous and endogenous factors. Further research in the topic would include regression analysis to test for causality. This study has implications on real estate investment decision making and contributes to real estate market literature in SA. / MT2017